This ABC story is disgusting. Are you willing to eat food from unknown sources including other countries when faced with continuing stories about the failure of our corporate food systems? Large agri-biz has time and time again proven they chose profit over healthy real food.

In a massive blow to multinational agra-biz corporations such as Monsanto, Bayer, and Dow, Peru has officially passed a law banning genetically modified ingredients anywhere within the country for a full decade before coming up for another review. Peru’s Plenary Session of the Congress made the decision 3 years after the decree was written despite previous governmental pushes for GM legalization due largely to the pressure from farmers that together form the Parque de la Papa in Cusco, a farming community of 6,000 people that represent six communities.

By now you have surely heard or read the term “Buy Local”, but you may not have heard the most important reasons why. Is it to help local farmers and your community to prosper? Of course, but a much more compelling reason exists that you may not be aware of. Our food supply has slowly been taken over by corporate consolidation that has resulted in a very few companies controlling our entire food system. This may not sound like a big deal but let’s put it into perspective.

The way that power is concentrated in all aspects of our economy has evolved to dangerous monopoly levels with powerful lobby strangle-holds on our representatives. The public (Occupy, 99 percent, Tea Party), targeting our financial giants, have begun to cry foul and for good reason, For example, in 1990 20% of the US financial assets were held by 10 banks. Today those 10 banks hold 54% of our country’s assets.

The concentration of power in the food industry is even more concerning. Here comes the bullet points…

3 companies - Monsanto, Syngenta, and DuPont - are on both of the above lists.

4 companies —Cargill, ADM, Bunge, and Louis Dreyfus—control up to 90 percent of the global trade in grain.

3 of these firms process 70% of US soybeans and 40 percent of the milled wheat flour.
3 companies now process more than 70 percent of all beef, and just 4 firms slaughter and pack upwards of 58 percent of all pork and chicken. JBSFood Circles

In 1992, America had 240,000 hog farms, (USDA) 60,000 of them remained by 2007. We lost 2 right here in the Inland NW. Similar trends have hit the poultry industry.

90% of your food comes from large grocery chains. (USDA). Walmart controls more than 26% of the US grocery market and the combined market share of the four largest grocery companies is in excess of 45%.

$1.4 billion was spent lobbying your government by these food giants. More than the Defense lobby. Results - USDA and food safety scientists are experiencing political interference leading to less food inspections, overlooking of fecal pollution, fast tracked approval for animal feed, rampant clear cutting for cattle, new insecticides and genetically modified seeds.

Large corporate farm consolidation has increased food borne illness outbreaks, (Salmonella, E Coli, etc) fecal pollution, antibiotic overuse and GMO use.Summary Your family’s food is being controlled by a very few powerful giants with limited concerns for your health, and government oversight is crumbling in the face of their influence. What can you do when our leaders have proved unwilling or unable to defend the public interest? Buy Local and make your voice heard loud and clear to your representatives or through current movements like The Tea Party, 99 Percent or Occupy Wall Street to control campaign finance.

Though records of chanterelles being eaten date back to the 1500s, they first gained widespread recognition as a culinary delicacy with the spreading influence of French cuisine in the 1700s, where they began appearing in palace kitchens. For many years, they remained notable for being served at the tables of nobility. Nowadays, the usage of chanterelles in the kitchen is common throughout Europe and North America. In 1836, the Swedish mycologistElias Fries considered the chanterelle “as one of the most important and best edible mushrooms.”

Chanterelles as a group are generally described as being rich in flavor, with a distinctive taste and aroma difficult to characterize. Some species have a fruity odor, others a more woody, earthy fragrance, and others still can even be considered spicy. The golden chanterelle is perhaps the most sought-after and flavorful chanterelle, and many chefs consider it on the same short list of gourmet fungi as truffles and morels.

Food prices are predicted to keep going up anywhere from 5 - 10% in 2011. Google it for yourself and notice that nobody is predicting a decrease or even a stable year for food. Here are the conservative USDA’s predictions. Since we opened in 2004, food prices have increased 71%. In comparison, our menu prices have only increased 21%.
Now let’s look at the real culprit, energy. As oil prices rise (30% in 12 months), so do food prices. Sadly, we have to pass on these higher prices in the form of higher menu prices in order to stay profitable. This makes the restaurant look bad to our customers when the real culprits are you and me for not speaking up loud and clear to our legislators to change our energy policies.
America continues to refuse to exploit its own energy sources. We remain too dependent on imports for energy while deliberately sidelining at least hundreds of thousands of potential high-paying jobs by refusing to extract our own oil and natural gas and moving faster towards clean coal and nuclear energy. When the unstable countries that produce oil go through political paroxysms, it spooks investors and sends commodity prices soaring on the increased risk to distribution. Those price increases mean higher transportation costs, which impacts all goods and services that require transport to get to consumers. It’s a multiplier factor that we have seen a number of times over the last four decades, and which our political class continues to pretend doesn’t exist.

The end result has been a blast to our economy and a knee-jerk reaction by the fed to install the quick but wrong fix of monetizing our debt. This will only lead to inflation which is the historical slippery slope to collapse. Your tenderloin steak will go from $28 to $48 in the next year.
It’s easy to get distracted by political and media bantering but this is a serious threat, probably the biggest threat to America right now. There is no more time to waste debating the inevitable inflation that will devastate this country unless we clear out the red tape of regulation and immediately drill for oil and gas and subsidize nuclear energy on our own soil.
It is time to speak up for energy independence and start growing your own food. In the meantime we will continue to buy local and provide the best value for the highest quality dinner for you.